PostgreSQL on Amazon RDS

Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL is ordinary PostgreSQL with the operating system, backups and failover handled by AWS. It is the same server binary you would run yourself, so AddisDB connects with its Postgres driver on port 5432 and treats it exactly like a self-hosted instance — full catalog, full toolset.

Who it is for

RDS suits teams who want Postgres without owning the machine it runs on. You give up the superuser role and file-system access; you get automated backups, point-in-time recovery, minor-version patching and a one-click read replica.

The one thing worth understanding before you connect is the role you log in as. The master user RDS creates is a member of rds_superuser, which is not a true PostgreSQL superuser. It can create databases, roles and most extensions, but it cannot read the server file system or bypass row-level security. A handful of catalog columns come back null for it that would be populated for a real superuser.

Aurora PostgreSQL is a different product with its own storage engine, and it has its own entry in the picker. If your endpoint contains cluster, pick Aurora PostgreSQL instead.

Set up the instance

1. In the RDS console open your instance and copy the endpoint — it looks like mydb.abc123.us-east-1.rds.amazonaws.com. That is the host.
2. Confirm the port. It is 5432 unless you changed it at creation.
3. Check that the instance is publicly accessible, or that you are inside its VPC. This is the single most common reason a connection times out.
4. Open the attached security group and allow inbound TCP on 5432 from your address.
5. Note the master username and database name from the Configuration tab.

# Confirm the endpoint answers before you leave the terminal
psql -h mydb.abc123.us-east-1.rds.amazonaws.com -p 5432 -U postgres -d postgres -c 'SELECT version();'

Connect from AddisDB

1. New Connection → PostgreSQL (Amazon RDS). Port prefills to 5432, database and username to postgres.
2. Paste the endpoint into Host and enter your master user credentials.
3. Set SSL mode to require. RDS accepts TLS on every instance and rejects nothing by using it.
4. To verify the certificate rather than just encrypt, download the AWS regional CA bundle and select it as the CA certificate, then set SSL mode to verify-full.
5. Test, then Save.

What AddisDB gives you

Everything the app does for PostgreSQL, because this is PostgreSQL. The schema tree, in-grid editing, the structured create and alter table builders, database-user management, mock data and the query plan viewer with full EXPLAIN options all work.

The Live Monitor is real here — it reads pg_stat_activity, so you get live sessions, table sizes and the ability to cancel or terminate a backend. Test clones work too: AddisDB issues CREATE DATABASE … TEMPLATE, which your master user has permission to run.

Statement statistics come from pg_stat_statements. On RDS that extension is enabled through the parameter group rather than a config file — add pg_stat_statements to shared_preload_libraries, reboot the instance once, then run CREATE EXTENSION pg_stat_statements in the database you want to profile.